Mangalore: Road Repair Work Begins After Locals Threaten to Go on Fast
 
Pics: Ramesh Pandith
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (PS)
 
Mangalore, Jun 6: A day after members of Jana Hitarakshana Samiti threatened to go on a fast urging repair of a 300-meter stretch connecting Kottara Chowki highway and Konchady via Malemar, the local administrators and leaders arrived at the spot on Wednesday June 6 and formally inititated the repair work.

MLA Krishna J Palemar, mayor Gulzar Banu, local corporators Shankar Bhat and Shashidhar Hegde, opposition leader in city corporation Deepak Poojary, district Congress secretary T K Sudhir launched the work at a formal programme.

It is to be noted that Jana Hitarakshana Samiti president Kumar Malemar addressing a press meet on Tuesday June 5 had threatened to launch a fast with the support of the locals as their demand to concrete the road had fallen on ‘deaf ears' of the MLA, DC, MCC commissioner and the mayor.
 
Formally inaugurating the road work by breaking coconuts to mark an auspicious start, MLA Krishna J Palemar said that money was not the reason for the delay in carrying out this work, but that the area was always waterlogged. "This work involves an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore including work on the drainage, and a bridge will also be built. Though there is scarcity of contract workers, the work will not be delayed," he assured.
 
At this, Jana Hitarakshana Samiti president Kumar Malemar urged the MLA to declare a deadline to finish the road work. Palemar assured that within two months, the work would be completed.
 
Corporator Shashidhar Hegde said that the area was an agricultural land earlier and that with the funding by KUDCEMP, MCC had initiated the work of drainage and road work. "The government released the grant after the tender procedure got over," he said.